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University of Gävle, Faculty of Education and Business Studies, Department of Business and Economic Studies, Economics. Department of Soil and Environment, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden.

Futter, M. N.

Department of Aquatic Sciences and Assessment, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden.

Natural water retention measures (NWRM) are a multifunctional form of green infrastructure that can play an important role in catchment-scale flood risk management. While green infrastructure based on natural processes is increasingly recognised as being complementary to traditional flood control strategies based on grey infrastructure in urban areas, there are a number of outstanding challenges with their widespread uptake. At a catchment scale, it is widely accepted that NWRM in upstream areas based on the concept of ’keeping the rain where it falls’ can help reduce the risk of downstream flooding by enhancing or restoring natural hydrological processes including interception, evapotranspiration, infiltration, and ponding. However, both the magnitude of flood risk reduction and the institutional structures needed for widespread uptake of NWRM are inadequately understood. Implementing NWRM can involve trade-offs, especially in agricultural areas. Measures based on drainage management and short rotation forestry may help ’keep the rain where it falls’ but can result in foregone farm income. To identify situations where the implementation of NWRM may be warranted, an improved understanding of the likely reductions in downstream urban flood risk, the required institutional structures for risk management and transfer, and mutually acceptable farm compensation schemes are all needed.

University of Gävle, Faculty of Education and Business Studies, Department of Business and Economic Studies, Economics. Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet (SLU), Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences.

Current international agreements call for a significant reduction of nutrient loads to the Baltic Sea. In one of the signatory countries, Sweden, regulatory authorities have concluded that new measures will be needed to meet national reduction targets. This article evaluates the effect of one possible new measure for reducing nitrogen loads, introducing mandatory discharge permits for crop cultivation as one component of a proposed discharge permit system. Using the framework of the proposed system, expected net load reductions and permit prices are calculated for three crop permit scenarios in a catchment in Southern Sweden. In addition, gross leaching is calculated for a larger region to study the potential for reducing net loads. The article concludes that while permitting reduces loading, achieving reduction targets will require additional measures beyond the scenarios studied.

University of Gävle, Faculty of Education and Business Studies, Department of Business and Economic Studies, Economics. Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet (SLU), Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences.

Current international agreements call for a significant reduction of nitrogen loads to the Baltic Sea. New measures to reduce nitrogen loads from the agricultural sector and an increased focus on cost efficiency will be needed to meet reduction targets. For policy design and evaluation it is important to understand the impact of weather on the efficiency of abatement measures. One new proposed policy is the use of crop permits based on weather normalized average leaching. This paper describes the use of the Spearman method to determine the efficiency of this policy with annual weather variation. The conclusion is that the values of the Spearman correlation coefficients in the study indicate that using average leaching for the individual crops on specific soil types for calculating crop permit requirements is an efficient policy. The Spearman method is demonstrated to be a simple useful tool for evaluating the impact of weather and is recommended for use in new studies.

Regulation of pesticides has often followed a command and control approach. However, economic instruments allow for environmental goals to be used for targeting as well as provide users (farmers) with flexibility in their response. The primary environmental effects of concern from the use of plant pesticides are related to the toxic effects on non-targeted organisms in environmental media. This paper describes a methodology for ex ante evaluation of policy alternatives for reducing the impact on the aquatic environment from pesticide use.

The proposed methodology consists of several components. It uses the Pesticide Toxicity Index (PTI) for defining an environmental goal and for evaluation of the environmental effect of policy alternatives, a field based model MACRO-DB for describing the impact of crop management programs and agricultural land use on concentrations of active compounds from pesticide use and the use of economic modelling to determine the effect on farm income from alternative tax schemes. The paper presents an application of this method using empirical data from a small agricultural catchment in Southern Sweden and compares the economic and environmental effects of a differentiated tax on the most toxic class of pesticides and a flat tax on all pesticides. On average the costs of reducing environmental impacts by one unit of PTI were estimated to be €1 009 for the flat tax and €71,5 for the differentiated tax.

12.

Collentine, Dennis

et al.

University of Gävle, Faculty of Education and Business Studies, Department of Business and Economic Studies, Economics.

The purpose of this paper is to study whether investors' willingness to realize capital gains falls when the marginal tax rate on capital gains is raised. We use a rich register-based panel data set covering almost 8% of the Swedish population. The results indicate that a 10% increase in capital gains tax rate reduces the number of realizations of capital gains with 8.7% and the realized amount, given the decision to realize, with 1.9%. In addition, we find that wealthy individuals seem to respond more to changes in capital gains tax rates than less-wealthy.

Department of Crop Production Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden.

Bolinder, Martin

Department of Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden.

Johnsson, Holger

Department of Soil and Environment, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden.

Kätterer, Thomas

Department of Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden.

Mårtensson, Kristina

Department of Soil and Environment, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden.

Collentine, Dennis

University of Gävle, Faculty of Education and Business Studies, Department of Business and Economic Studies, Economics. Department of Soil and Environment, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden.

The potential of modified spring barley crops with improved nitrogen (N) use efficiency to reduce nitrogen (N) leaching and to increase soil organic carbon (SOC) storage was assessed at the regional scale. This was done using simulation model applications designed for reporting according to the Helcom (Helsinki Commission) and Kyoto protocols. Using model simulations based on modified crops N dynamics and SOC were assessed for three agro-ecological regions (latitudes ranging 55°20′–60°40′ N) in Sweden over a 20-year period. The modified N use properties of spring barley were implemented in the SOILNDB model (simulating soil C, N, water and heat, and plant N dynamics) by changing the parameters for root N uptake efficiency and plant N demand within a range given by previous model applications to different crops. A doubling of the daily N uptake efficiency and increased N demand (by ca 30%) reduced N leaching by 24%–31%, increased plant N content by 9%–12%, depending on region. The effects of the modified crop on SOC was simulated with the ICBM model, resulting in an increased SOC content (0–25 cm depth) by 57–79 kg C ha−1 y−1. The results suggest that a modified crop might reduce N leaching from spring barley area, in a range similar to the targets of relevant environmental protection directives, a result which held more in the northern than southern regions. The simulated SOC increase on a hectare basis was highest for the central region and least for the most northern region. For the total agricultural area the share of spring barley area was small and more crops would need to be modified to reach the emission reduction targets.

Department of Crop Production Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden.

Marstorp, Håkan

Department of Soil and Environment, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden.

Collentine, Dennis

University of Gävle, Faculty of Education and Business Studies, Department of Business and Economic Studies, Economics. Department of Soil and Environment, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden.

Johnsson, Holger

Department of Soil and Environment, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden.

Kätterer, Thomas

Department of Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden.

To what extent might a crop with increased plant N uptake efficiency and/or N demand increase plant biomass and soil carbon storage, decrease N leaching, and reduce the need for N fertilisation? This was assessed for a fertilised sandy loam site in central Sweden cultivated with spring barley for a four year period using a process based crop and soil simulation model (SOILN) calibrated to fit observations of field experiments with non-modified crops. Crop properties were changed in accordance with previous model applications to other crops with higher N uptake and utilisation efficiencies, to resemble potential effects of breeding. For the modified crops a doubling of daily uptake efficiency of soil mineral N and/or increase of radiation use efficiency by 30%, increased plant biomass by 3%-30%, decreased N leaching by 1%-30% and increased soil organic carbon (SOC) content by 1-12 g C m-2 year-1. The larger changes were mainly due to increased uptake efficiency. Fertilisation of the modified spring barley crop could be reduced while still producing the same plant biomass as the non-modified crop. The plant biomass to N leaching ratio of the modified crops increased. The simulated changes in plant biomass and SOC were sensitive to weather conditions suggesting that in situ experiments would need to cover a large range of weather conditions to evaluate the performance of new crop traits under climatic variability. The study suggests a strong need that field experiments are accompanied with model applications, when exploring the potential of the modified crops under variable conditions.

For many years the policy in Sweden has been to help the elderly to stay in their current homes as long as possible. Is this a good policy for the elderly and is this a good policy from a welfare perspective? The study focused on two aspects of the moving pattern for the elderly. Are the household staying in their current home because it is optimal from the household’s point of view or because there is some kind of transaction cost? Is the optimal solution for the household also the best option for the society as a whole concerning moving chains for all age categories?

This study was carried out in Gävle, a medium sized city of approximately 70 000 inhabitants about 100 km north of Stockholm. The housing market is in general in equilibrium and the prices are about the average for the Swedish housing market which makes Gävle an interesting case. Gävle has also a tradition of researchers active within the housing sector. As an introduction to the main questionnaire study a pilot study was carried out during 2011 focusing on managers and persons living at nursing home in Gävle. The questions were focusing on transaction costs that may arise while moving when you are older. Five managers were interviewed and 18 persons living at different nursing homes.

As an alternative to moving to some kind of elderly living, the elderly can get various kinds of home service for a reduced fee. This means that it is important to separate the question “is the elderly moving to a smaller dwelling (downsizing) at the "right" time?” and the question “are they moving to some kind of elderly living at the "right" time?” As the pilot study showed that the decision to move to elderly living in the form of nursing home often is made by social authorities the focus was shifted to those considering downsizing within the ordinary housing sector. In total 1000 questionnaires was sent out to households in the age group 65-85 year within the ordinary housing sector, out of which 660 answered.

The study has only covered the information aspect to a minor extent, but if a person is satisfied with their current situation, as most households were, it should be lack of incentives rather than lack of information that is that prohibits the move, except for the oldest categories. Concerning the tax system, the study does not indicate that this is something that prohibits the elderly from moving, but this conclusion may depend on the price level of dwellings and it is therefore hard to generalize. Even if the tax system is not a problem, the concern for the monthly expenses is more of a problem. The monthly expenses may increase while downsizing because this may mean a newer and therefore more expensive dwelling. As the social network decreases with age and the health may deteriorate it may be possible to influence especially single-person households over 80 year that live in 3-5 room. Here direct subsidies to downsize and help to find better alternatives – like in U.K - might help elderly to go through with a move.

Statistics from Eurostat show that several European countries have an increasing proportion of elderly people, making their housing situation of increasing interest. For many years, it has been policy in Sweden to help elderly people remain in their current homes for as long as possible. This paper aims to find reasons why people want to move at different stages in life and investigate whether the pattern follows the life cycle in housing. Earlier research has been performed in the USA (Gibler and Clements III, 2011) and in China (Jia and Heath, 2016), but these questions remain understudied in Sweden.

Design/methodology/approach

A model of the demand for adapted houses is designed and tested on data gathered in Gävle in 2012. The method uses a binary choice model with stated preference data.

Findings

The results of this study show that earlier preferences and age determine the future living situation, but that senior living (rental or condominium) is most popular as a future home.

Practical implications

Not everyone has the economic resources to move according to their preferences; reasons include high monthly costs and taxes. Changes in the tax system may produce better moving chains and increase the supply of affordable housing.

In several countries in the world an increasing proportion of the population is 65 years or older, something that makes the housing situation for the elderly gaining more and more interest. For many years it has been a policy in Sweden to help elderly to stay at their current home as long as possible, often with the help of home care in different ways and at different levels. This may be a good policy for younger elderly that is active, but not for elderly that has reached a certain age and are less active as it may be a hindrance to someone that really wants to move. Is the preference towards moving different depending on your current living situation, and does the reason for moving differ depending on which group you belong to? The purpose of this article is to find reasons why people want to move at different stages in life, and if the pattern follows the life cycle in housing. Sweden is of interest because it is a country with relatively low expected self-financing when elderly care is needed compared to the average of EU-27. Also little research has been made in Sweden so far in this field. The result of the article is that different current housing may lead to different preferences of the future living situations, but that senior living – either as a rental living or a condominium – is most popular as a future home. A problem is however that not everyone has the economic resources to move according to their preferences due to for example high monthly costs and taxes. Data is used from a survey gathered in Gävle, Sweden 2012.

21.

Landström, Mats

University of Gävle, Faculty of Education and Business Studies, Department of Business and Economic Studies, Economics.

A difference-in-difference approach was used to investigate whether central bank independence (CBI) reforms matter for inflation, based on a novel dataset including the possible occurrence of such reforms in 132 countries during the period 1980 to 2005. CBI-reforms are found to have contributed to bringing down high inflation rates where those existed, but they seem unrelated to performance in low-inflation countries

Affective relationship commitment has in several studies been identified as a crucial factor in the longevity of business relationships. In this article, it is argued that affective commitment should be researched on the individual level rather than the organizational level and that relevant psychological processes need to be incorporated into theory in order to increase understanding regarding the dynamics of this aspect of relationship commitment. The psychological contract, a construct derived from organizational psychology, is tested as an antecedent to affective commitment in relationships between buyers and sellers in the market for industrial supplies in Sweden. The findings indicate that the relational orientation of the psychological contract, as well as the evaluation of the same, has explanatory value when related to affective commitment in business-to-business relationships.

Studies aimed at optimizing resource allocation between different sampling stages are characterized by both simplicity and incompleteness in optimization and economic analysis. The aim of this study was therefore to completely resolve the allocation problem for a fourstage measurement strategy devoted to observational assessment of work-related postural loads with the precision of the mean estimate considered as ‘output’. The derived demand functions for inputs to the four stages were used to derive functions for the minimized cost and the maximized precision of the measurement strategy. The application of the theoretical results to a working posture assessment study led to increased cost efficiency of the measurement strategy investigated in the study. Under the additional constraint that the optimal values must be integers, optimization of this measurement strategy would result in either a 12% reduction in cost or a 7% increase in precision.

Workplace health promotion (WHP) strongly requires the employer’s efforts to improve the psychosocial, ergonomic, and physical environments of the workplace. There are many studies discussing the socio-economic advantage of WHP intervention programmes and thus the internal and external factors motivating employers to implement and integrate such programmes. However, the socio-economic impacts of the employer’s multifactorial efforts to improve the work environment need to be adequately assessed.

Methods

Data were collected from Swedish company Sandvik Materials Technology (SMT) through a work environment survey in April 2014. Different regression equations were analysed to assess marginal effects of the employer’s efforts on overall labour effectiveness (OLE), informal work impairments (IWI), lost working hours (LWH), and labour productivity loss (LPL) in terms of money.

University of Gävle, Faculty of Health and Occupational Studies, Department of Occupational and Public Health Sciences, Occupational health science. University of Gävle, Centre for Musculoskeletal Research.

Bantekas, Apostolos

University of Gävle, Faculty of Education and Business Studies, Department of Business and Economic Studies, Economics.

The few studies attempting to estimate costs of work-related disorders suffer from poor applied methodologies. Further, as the costs are often limited to the company, decisions about investment in improving the work environment are made at the company level. However, economic decisions on changing work environments and improving occupational health need to be made at the societal level. In an economic social decision, all direct and indirect costs imposed on society by work-related disorders are considered, regardless of who pays which cost. This study introduces and demonstrates a methodology appropriate for economic decisions at the societal level for preventing work-related disorders and promoting occupational health in the workplace. The methodology uses the concept of human capital in assessing productivity loss associated with the disorders. The empirical results show that Swedish society could have gained up to 442 855 537 SEK by preventing work-related disorders at the Swedish company Sandvik Materials Technology during 2014, 87% of which would have been captured by the company.

When designing studies to assess occupational and environmental exposures, one persistent decision problem is the selection between two technical methods, where one is expensive but efficient and the other is cheap but inefficient. While a few studies have attempted to determine the relatively more cost-efficient design between two technical methods, no successful study has optimized the fraction of the expensive efficient technical method in a combined technique intended for long-run exposure assessment studies. The purpose of this study was therefore to optimize the fraction of the expensive efficient measurements by resolving a precision-requiring cost minimization problem. For an indefinite total number of measurements, the total cost of a working posture assessment study was minimized by performing only direct measurements. However, for a definite total number of measurements, the use of combined techniques in assessing the posture could be optimal, depending on the constraints placed on the precision and on the research budget.